The Labor Department paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus funds to a public relations firm to run more than 100 commercials touting the Obama administration’s “green training” job efforts on two MSNBC cable shows, records show.

The commercials ran on MSNBC on shows hosted by Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann in 2009, but the contract didn’t report any jobs created, according to records reviewed recently by The Washington Times.

Spending reports under the federal Recovery Act show $495,000 paid to McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations LLC, which the Labor Department hired to raise awareness “among employers and influencers about the [Job Corps] program’s existing and new training initiatives in high growth and environmentally friendly career areas” as well as spreading the word to prospective Job Corps enrollees.

You’d think the money would’ve been better spent on a spot in which voters not already in the tank for Obama would be watching. But that’s government efficiency for ya: spend money needlessly shoring up voters who’d already vote for ya! No word yet on why taxpayer money is funding Obama’s relection campaign. But the damn signs all over the roadway are another story (again, free adverts).

Husband was incredulous over this last night. But I reminded him of Obama’s Chicago pol heritage. As long-time visitors to the Windy City, you get used to this:

Daley’s name was plastered over every trashcan and on every airport kiosk. Free advertising on the taxpayer dime. Obama learned well!

So argues Chief Justice John Roberts in his majority opinion. So, the joke’s on us, is that it? I’m having a hard time deciding if Roberts intended this to be the equivalent of Obama’s snide “above my paygrade” retort.

Other bits and pieces as my due date flies by and the thermometer climbs above 100. (Note to self: future pjBabies must be born in winter. Lots of snow preferable. Will deal with the loss of ski season.)

President Obama, who famously called for tax increases on the wealthy to “spread the wealth around,” denied today that his tax increases on the rich are an attempt to “redistribute wealth.”

“So these investments — in things like education and research and health care — they haven’t been made as some grand scheme to redistribute wealth from one group to another,” the president said today at Florida Atlantic University. “This is not some socialist dream,” Obama added, as he called for tax increases on millionaires today to pay for those investments.

A reminder:

When he advocated the same plan in 2008, though, Obama described this “spread the wealth around” policy. “I’m gonna cut taxes a little bit more for the folks who are most in need and for the 5 percent of the folks who are doing very well – even though they’ve been working hard and I appreciate that – I just want to make sure they’re paying a little bit more in order to pay for those other tax cuts,” he told Samuel Wurzelbacher (aka Joe the Plumber), who is now running for Congress.

400. But who’s counting when all we’re doing is stripping their money away to help others sit on their duffs. Chris Christie nailed it:

Christie said he hasn’t seen a less optimistic period in the country in his lifetime.

“Government’s telling them stop dreaming, stop striving, we’ll take care of you,” he said at a theater at the New York Historical Society. “We’re turning into a paternalistic entitlement society. That will not just bankrupt us financially, it will bankrupt us morally.”

“We’ll have a bunch of people sitting on a couch waiting for their next government check,” Christie said.

It already has bankrupted us morally. Half of the populace takes from the other and is still allowed to vote for more handouts. I’d call that bankrupt.

Is Romney strong enough to make the necessary contrast with redistributionist Obama? Oremus.

Everyone knows how much money Michelle likes to spend on her little jaunts outside the White House. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, eh? It’s not that Americans are warned against all travel to Mexico. It’s the 25 Secret Service agents and 3 armored vehicles that accompanied the young Obama. No wonder the other parents let their kids go on a “school trip.” They had security provided by yokels like you and me.

Rick Perry discloses details of his new tax plan in the WSJ. As someone who gave a persuasive speech on the glories of a flat tax to an undergraduate speech class eons ago, I’m smitten:

On Tuesday I will announce my “Cut, Balance and Grow” plan to scrap the current tax code, lower and simplify tax rates, cut spending and balance the federal budget, reform entitlements, and grow jobs and economic opportunity.

The plan starts with giving Americans a choice between a new, flat tax rate of 20% or their current income tax rate. The new flat tax preserves mortgage interest, charitable and state and local tax exemptions for families earning less than $500,000 annually, and it increases the standard deduction to $12,500 for individuals and dependents.

This simple 20% flat tax will allow Americans to file their taxes on a postcard, saving up to $483 billion in compliance costs. By eliminating the dozens of carve-outs that make the current code so incomprehensible, we will renew incentives for entrepreneurial risk-taking and investment that creates jobs, inspires Americans to work hard and forms the foundation of a strong economy. My plan also abolishes the death tax once and for all, providing needed certainty to American family farms and small businesses.

To help older Americans, we will eliminate the tax on Social Security benefits, boosting the incomes of 17 million current beneficiaries who see their benefits taxed if they continue to work and earn income in addition to Social Security earnings.

What is this? The government taketh away what the government giveth? I had no idea seniors paid taxes on SS benefits. Why?

Even better than a flat tax, a balanced budget by 2020:

We should start moving toward fiscal responsibility by capping federal spending at 18% of our gross domestic product, banning earmarks and future bailouts, and passing a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. My plan freezes federal civilian hiring and salaries until the budget is balanced. And to fix the regulatory excess of the Obama administration and its predecessors, my plan puts an immediate moratorium on pending federal regulations and provides a full audit of all regulations passed since 2008 to determine their need, impact and effect on job creation.

If I can persuade a class full of folks who don’t give a lick about politics that the current tax system is inherently unfair and a flat tax would simplify their lives in 15 minutes, Rick Perry damn well better run with this hard. Steve Forbes is in. Robbie Cooper is, too.

Unsurprising: Ol‘ Flip-Flop Mitt–who famously derided Steve Forbes and the flat tax–now says he loves him some flat tax. Serve it up with syrup and a smile, Rick.

UPDATE: To borrow R.S. McCain’s shtick, since Ed Morrissey is an influential blogger of consequence and linked by the likes of Memeorandum when he pings ‘em, he was included in a conference call this morning with Perry. The Q&A is interesting reading as is his conclusion:

I’m encouraged by this plan. I think there are a couple of points to quibble over — I’m not a fan of making the flat tax optional on the personal side, as I think we have enough problems with one system, let alone two. I agree that this issue will mainly take care of itself, though, as people flock to a system that’s simpler while still maintaining their mortgage interest deductions. Having the exemptions for a family of four reach $50K keeps Democrats from demagoguing it as an attack on the middle class, too. I’m most excited about flattening the corporate tax rate, where Congress creates the most mischief.

I think he may be right regarding the mass exodus of folks to the postcard plan. Hardest hit: tax preparers.

Harvard economist Martin Feldstein sees the forest for the trees in the housing debacle. In the NYT he states:

I cannot agree with those who say we should just let house prices continue to fall until they stop by themselves. Although some forest fires are allowed to burn out naturally, no one lets those fires continue to burn when they threaten residential neighborhoods. The fall in house prices is not just a decline in wealth but a decline that depresses consumer spending, making the economy weaker and the loss of jobs much greater. We all have a stake in preventing that.

And his prescription? Taxpayers shoring up homeowners bailing on their mortgages. You know, more of the same:

But for political reasons, both the Obama administration and Republican leaders in Congress have resisted the only real solution: permanently reducing the mortgage debt hanging over America. The resistance is understandable. Voters don’t want their tax dollars used to help some homeowners who could afford to pay their mortgages but choose not to because they can default instead, and simply walk away. And voters don’t want to provide any more help to the banks that made loans that have gone sour.

The track record of government intervention in the housing market ain’t so hot. But what do I know, I’m not a Harvard economist. The problem, sir, is the lack of taxpayer money to do this. The money would again be pulled out of the magic Treasury hat and would do us more harm in the long run, shoring up bad money with printed-out-of-thin-air. And as soon as that government program expired, as all government programs do, then the housing market would end up in the same boat. Until boatloads of people who didn’t somehow qualify started claiming to be part of the 99% and demanding their fair share.

Here’s a thought: if the beneficient government program were to never end–everyone would be rescued from their mortgage–then why doesn’t the government just print even more money and buy all the houses across the land? If the government owned it all, no one could be evicted, right? No one would lose a home to foreclosure? And then people could spend freely on their wants rather than needs: Iphone4s, organic salmon. Paradise.